


Sandcastles

by malibu_island



Category: IT - Stephen King, The Ring (2002)
Genre: Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Character Death, Stay with me everyone this is a bit cracky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 18:40:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20912273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malibu_island/pseuds/malibu_island
Summary: Still reeling from the death of Eddie, Richie takes a break from stand-up and goes on vacation in an idyllic mountain village.While he's there, Richie makes a discovery that is shocking and terrifying in equal measure.Faced with something that threatens his entire world, he has to fight harder than ever before.





	Sandcastles

A quiet vacation.

Thatʼs what Richie Tozier had wanted, no  _ needed _ , after the death of his beloved Eddie.

And yet, here he found himself, dealing with creepy kids,  _ again _ .

He really  _ could not catch a break _ .

The break, until  _ now _ , had been for the most part, what heʼd needed.

Get the hell out of New York, he’d told himself while driving, feeling like he’d been punched in the chest. It was coming up to the anniversary of Eddie’s death and heʼd driven non-stop, crying nearly the whole way.

Richie had ended up in a small, remote village in the mountains, far away from any water sources as possible.

No rivers, no lakes, no quarries and  _ no fucking clowns _ .

Richie finally found a hotel and pulled up, not even bothering to grab his suitcase from the trunk before bounding up the stairs to the reception.

It was a quiet, late summer day, a slight bite to the breeze, leaves just starting to turn in colour to yellow and orange.

An elderly woman greeted him at the counter with a placid smile, “Why hello there, dear. Can I help you? Oh my, are you that funny man?”

“Sorry?” Richie smiles, a little confused.

The woman waves her hand in the air, “Yes, that funny man from the iPad, my grandson shows me all the time!”

“Oh, yeah. That’s me. Richie Tozier.” He does jazz hands and the woman clutches her hands to her chest, “Well that’s just wonderful! You know, I did love that one sketch about the circus-”

“-You know, if you’d like a picture I’d be more than happy. Or an autograph.” Richie interrupts, forced smile plastered onto his face, peering around.

She drops the subject, much to his relief and smiles in delight as Richie signs her old poster for the lodge, before going back to booking him in. 

“Well dear, we are rather busy this week but I believe we have a room free. Let me check.” She smiled and opened her book, scanning the pages and then smiled.

“We’ve got one room, but it’s our suite so it’s a little on the pricey side. Is that okay?”

Richie smiled and nodded, somewhere with a bit of space would be nice.

“Yeah, sure. How much?”

She smiled, and brought up the price list.

* * *

Richie dumped his bags on the bed and sighed.

The suite was very large, but it was clean and nicely decorated, just what he’d wanted. 

As he started to unpack, his hands stilled on the grey hoodie, neatly pressed at the top of his case. He’d put it there so it wouldn’t crease-

Richie swallowed his tears down with force and slammed the lid shut.

_ Take a walk, deal with feelings later _ , he told himself and headed out of the lodge to clear his head.

His quick walk into the forest at the base of the mountains was quiet, peaceful. His pounding headache resided and gave way to peace. He’d just walked into a clearing and was inhaling fresh, crisp air that was a much-welcome change from the big apple.

It was fresh, crisp mountain air that had been perforated by a haunting, terrible sobbing that morphed into a wail.

Richie jumped out of his skin and looked for the source of the unsettling noise, spotting a well, off to the right of some trees when he heard it again.

“Help me!”

It sounded like a child, and Richie bounded over, heart in his mouth, not even thinking.

If he had the capacity to think in that moment, it would have probably been ‘ _ shitshitshitfuckakidfelldownthewell _ ’

Just before he got to the heavy stone slab covering the well, he stopped in his tracks.

_ Wait. What if this was Pennywise. A cruel trick, to drag him into the _

_ water? _

_ No _ , he told himself, shaking his head,  _ Pennywise is dead. He died with Eddie and the entire Nebolt house caved in on them both. _

This was probably a kid whoʼd fallen down- but that didnʼt

explain the slab of rock hastily shoved over the well entrance. 

_ Why would anyone cover up a well knowing a child was down there? _

Cursing under his breath, he began to shift the rock, pushing with all his strength.

“Dammit man. Why always this shit?” He snapped, and with one final push, shoved the stone off from the top.

“Hey kid!” He shouted down, not able to see into the darkness.

“Help me!” Came the utterly despaired response, “Iʼm down here!” It was very obviously a small kid, and a terrified one at that.

“Fuck, you’re a fucking idiot Tozier.” Richie breathed out.

Someone had thrown them down there. They had clearly not wanted them getting out if the slab was any indication. 

“Hold on! Iʼm gonna get some rope!”

“Thereʼs some in the old lodge,  _ hurry _ !”

Richie sprints across the field to the old lodge where he’d just checked in, almost flying into the

elderly lady he’d met earlier, “Rope!” He gasped, trying to catch his breath, “Kid in the well! Call an ambulance!”

The housekeeper clutched at her chest and hurried behind her desk into what must have been her office to grab some.

“Itʼs for my grandson’s horses, but it should do!” She said, pressing the rope into his hands. As Richie turned to sprint back out of the lodge, she began to dial 911 with shaking hands.

Richie almost goes flying into a tree he runs back with such speed, and leans over the well.

“Hold on kid!” He yells, and lowers the rope, all the while Eddieʼs voice is chanting in the back of his head:  _ Bad idea moron _ !

The kid grabs onto the rope and Richie starts pulling them up, praying it’s not Pennywise.

Itʼs only when the kid’s head surfaces above the well does his heart sink.

It’s not Pennywise, nor some dismembered kid that was his meal at some point,

It’s a little girl, no older than 10 years old that climbs out, her hair soaking wet

and sheʼs white as a sheet, her lips, hands and feet blue tinged.

Instantly, she bursts into tears, and Richie kicks himself. 

_ Of course sheʼs not the clown. How could he be so stupid? _

He hauls off his jacket and scarf and wraps her up, heading back into the lodge as quick as he can carry her.

“I’m cold.” She says croakily, and passes out in his arms.

  
  


* * *

It’s a sickening wait in the hospital room while the doctors check her up  and down, telling Richie that sheʼs suffering from acute hypothermia, as well as dehydration and exhaustion.

When the doctor asks if Richie knows where her parents are, he doesnʼt really  think before saying heʼs her guardian.

He knows he might get in trouble when her actual parents show up, but he’s not the kind of jerk to disappear without checking this poor kid is okay.

They let him back into her hospital room in the ICU where she’s hooked up to tubes and wires, looking tiny in the blue sheets.

“Your dad is here, sweetheart.” The nurse says as she opens the door and lets Richie in.

Judging by the way her terrified expression instantly flickers away the moment he steps into the room, Richie has a very bad feeling that her parents may be the cause of this.

“I’ll leave you two in peace for a moment. I’m sure you were very worried about her.” The nurse says softly, placing a cup of coffee into his hand and leaving.

When she’s gone, Richie pulls up a chair and sits next to her, “So kid, you got a name? Or should I just call you Wella?”

“Thatʼs not funny.” She sniffs, “I donʼt like my name.”

“You donʼt like your name, huh? Whyʼs that?”

She looks up from underneath her dark hair and shoots him a piercing stare.

“You ask too many questions. Like the doctor. I didnʼt like him.”

“ _ Okaay _ kid. Well Iʼm Richie Tozier. You donʼt have to tell me your name. Iʼm just staying until your parents get here.” Richie says, holding his hands up in a placating manner.

The kid’s kinda intense, in an unsettling way.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in fear and she shook her head, “No please, donʼt send them! I can’t go back there, I can’t!” She starts to openly cry, and Richie feels his heart sink, feeling utterly sick.

_ Poor fucking kid man, and heʼd thought he and the losers had a hard time with the clown. _

_ At least their folks never threw them down a well. _

“Look, kid. I canʼt take you out of here, Iʼm not your real dad-“

“My dad wasnʼt my real dad either, and heʼs not very nice.”

“No? Well it sounds like neither of them were great-“

“Daddy loved the horses but not me. And mommy loved me but then she got sick and pushed me down the well.”

Richie inhales his coffee, “Your mom pushed you? Christ, kid, what the hell-“

“Well, no. She tried to suffocate me first.”

Silence descends for a few moments, and Richie breathes out in utter shock and leans back.

“Well shit.” He says.

“Whatʼs that mean?” The kid looks at him in confusion

“Uhhh itʼs a bad word. Like your mom.”

“Mom was a bad word?”

Richie sighs, scrubbing his face, “No...she was bad, look kid, let me talk to the cops about

This. You won’t go back to your parents.”

* * *

The next day, she gives him her name: Samara Morgan.

Richie takes it and talks to the cops, he talks to his lawyer, he talks to the residents of the town.

He talks to anyone who will listen to try and find out where the hell Samʼs parents are, with no luck.

It seems that after dumping their daughter in a well, they were pretty keen on not being tracked down.

It makes Richie’s blood boil, seeing the poor kid be treated like that.

And judging from the bruises on her arm, this isn’t a new thing for her.

While the kid’s recovering in hospital and after meeting upon meeting with his lawyer, he finds himself in the tiny local legal office, adoption papers in hand, signed and completed.

He’d imagined adoption would be a much harder process, but someone destroyed the kid’s records, her birth certificate and everything else about her history.

Also, it helped that Richie’s lawyer is very convincing.

Richie is now legally, a dad.

He smiles wistfully when he thinks back on how he dreamt of signing those papers with Eddie beside him, and pushes it and the pen, away.

Richie decides New York is not a great idea for a traumatized kid.

While it would be good for his work, he’s still not quite ready to go back.

So, he settles on Maine, just another city thatʼs not Derry.

Richie hands her the adoption papers when he walks back into the hospital, along with a teddy bear.

When she jumps at him, crying with happy tears, Richie doesn’t say anything, just welcomes back the feeling of  _ hope _ that’s evaded him this past 12 months.

It’s whirlwind, and maybe it’s irresponsible of Richie to adopt this kid without not having much involvement with  _ parental responsibility _ before, but he knows the basics: Feed them, make sure they’re not getting into anything too dangerous and make them do their homework.

They’re driving down the highway when Richie spots a Wendy’s and pulls in, grabbing two cheeseburgers and soda. She looks at him in confusion and he unwraps the burger.

“It’s a cheeseburger. It’s good.” He says, finally, after her perplexed stare starts to weird him out.

“Mom never let me have these.”

“Well, your mom is not here. And I am saying, that you can have this cheeseburger. Because if you don’t, I’m sure as hell gonna eat it.”

His daughter quickly takes a bite, before he can swipe it and stares in wonder at the food. 

“Good right? Hey, just wait till you see an ice cream sundae kid. It’s next level.”

“Itʼs Samara.” She says quietly, taking another bite.

“Huh?”

“It’s my name, I donʼt like it though. I told you in the hospital.”

“Yeah, you did, right. Well, I can’t call you kid forever. What about Sam instead? I have a friend called Sam.” Richie suggested, inhaling the rest of his burger. His daughter stares at him in disapproval and then shakes her head.

“You do?”

“Yeah, heʼs like a chill dude.”

“Sam.” She says, taking a sip of her soda, trying it out, “Sam, It’s cool, I like Sam.”

“Me too. Beats kid, right?”

Sam lets out a huff of laughter, “You can say that again.”

Richie turns the radio on and hits the gas, wanting to get into this town before sunset.

After all, he could hardly start his first proper day as a parent by letting his kid go to sleep late, could he?

**Author's Note:**

> so basically i was talking to a mutual about crossing over the ring and it (two of my fave horror movies and this happened). enjoy.


End file.
